Immersion electric heater



Patented Dec. 12, 1 950 Eudaldo Mufioz Justiz, Habana, Cuba Application September 29, 1948, Serial No. 51,699 In Cuba August 4, 1948 1 Claim.

This invention refers to electric immersion type heaters and its purpose is to provide a heater of said type to heat water or liquids with a certain ionic content, so as to take advantage of the conductivity of the liquid itself. That is to say, in the heaters, covered bythis invention, the liquid to be heated, for instance, plain water, which always has a certain saline content, serves as the resistance of the heater, as we shall see further on.

As this new type heater I have invented is of very simple construction and eliminates the troublesome problem of insulation, it may be built in very small sizes, such as, for example, an inch long by half an inch in diameter, a fact which makes it extraordinarily adaptable for different uses, as for example to install them on the stoppers of rubber hot water bags used by the sick, in which case the heater thus used will be submerged in the water contained by the bag and will heat it in a few seconds by simply connecting with the electric line or source of electric energy.

Naturally, these heaters may be manufactured in different sizes and employed in other uses, as for example, to heat water in a jug or any receptacle, or they may be used in double boilers, coffee urns and for other uses.

The heater I have invented is of extraordinary simple construction, has no metallic resistance which may burn out and the intensity of the current it uses and, therefore, the heat it develops in a liquid, is function: (a) of the diameter of the electrodes, (b) of the length of the electrodes or of that part of the elecrodes which has been submerged, and (c) of the separation of the two electrodes.

From the above it is seen that the principal object of this invention is to construct extraordinarily simple electric heaters, without metal resistances while at the same time reducing the problems of insulation to a minimum, all of which considerably reduces the cost of manufacture and permits the construction of very small eflicient heaters.

With these and other advantages in view, my invention consists in the combination and dis position of its different elements, which I shall now describe in relation with the attached drawings, in which similar reference symbols corre spond to identical parts in all the views.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is an elevational view of the heater covered by this invention, Figure 2' is a horizontal section taken on the line 22, and Figure 3 is a vertical section of the heater covered by this invention taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral I represents a hollow electrode of metal, carbon, graphite or any other adequate conductor mate rial, in the interior of which there is another electrode 2, insulated from the first one and with an adequate separation between the two. Said electrodes I and 2 are mounted on the cap I I which is made of insulating material and have the staggered and concentric grooves I4 and I3 where electrodes I and 2 are respectively installed, the whole being then locked by bolt 6 and its nut I2, which makes the mounting of both electrodes rigid and eliminates any possibility of their establishing contact.

The head or cap II has two bores f5 and I6 through which conductors 8 and 9 pass to connect with electrodes I and 2 respectively. Conductors 8 and 9 may be connected at their free ends with the plugs of a plug-in socket 2|, thus connecting the heater with the electric line or an adequate source of electric energy.

The wall of the exterior electrode I has holes or perforations 24, which allow the liquid and the vapor to pass through them so that when the heater is submerged in the liquid it is desired to heat said liquid may pass through the perforations 24 of the exterior electrode I and occupy the space which there is between the twoelectrodes and thus constitute a liquid resistance between electrodes I and 2.

Thus, when a heater of this type is constructed with electrode I, composed of a metal tube 1% long with an interior diameter of 5%" and electrode 2 is composed of a metal tube 1%" long with an exterior diameter of 3%", so that there is a separation of 5" between the two electrodes, and the heater is connected with an electric line or a volt current, when the heater is introduced in plain water, such as, for example, that of the Havana Waterworks, it takes 3.7 amperes, which are equivalent to 400 watts.

Naturally, if it is desired to heat a liquid lacking metallic salts or ions, as for instance distilled water, there can be added a small amount of an easily ionizable substance, as for instance sodium 3 chloride, which will provide the liquid with the necessary conductivity to allow the heater to work.

Having described my invention, I claim as new and of my own invention the following:

In an immersion heater, a pair of insulating caps of generally cylindrical shape, each thereof having a top face and a bottom face, each insulating cap having a cylindrical bore extending partially therethrough, a cylindrical inner electrode positioned in said bore, each insulating cap having a second concentric bore extending pa y t r thr uet n an orming a sh ul er. therein and adapted to receive an outer electrode, one of said insulating caps having a radial bore through its side wall positioned intermediate the shoulder and the top face for-leading in a.

conductor to the inner electrode, said latter inside well positioned intermediate the, shoulder sulating cap having a second radialjbote its and the lower face for leading in a conductor to the outer electrode, and means for holding the insulating caps against the cylindrical electrodes;

EUDALDO MUfioz JUSTIZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: 

